gbwf.org Forums

[Mike C.]

Hi. are there any new ways to pinion adult birds? I have a friend who wishes to pinion a couple of adult peafowl. Any great ideas? Thanks.

[Roman]

Mike C,

Why would anyone wish to pinion Peafowl? I have had Peafowl running loose over 25 years and none have ever run away from home...If the problem is them flying on your house or car and messing them, then by all means put them into an aviary, but do not pinion these majestic birds and give them a chance to escape from predators...

Roman

[Mike C.]

I spoke with my friend who has his birds in a 10 acre enclosure game fenced with eight foot wire and electrified top and bottom. Predators large enough to bother grown peafowl are not a problem here. The birds flying to his neighbors and roosting on their pool cages and sitting on their SUVs is a problem. Pinioning the birds so they will stay in the enclosure and not be confined to an aviary is the best solution. Back to my question. Is there a better way to pinion grown birds (a clamp or tie)than what has been done in the past (a bloody surgical amputation)? I remember a post to the forum a few months ago from someone who had a better way to pinion large birds. Any opinions on the question at hand? It is important at times to pinion large birds including peafowl. Zoos do. Thanks, Mike.

[Roman]

Mike C,

I will agree that Peafowl love certain colors on cars, are partial to blue as my family can attest to, and they do leave small scratch marks and well you know what else...I totally disagree that all Zoos pinion Peafowl as the ones I have been to did not and they include St Louis Zoo, Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, even Ft Wayne Children's Zoo which I visited a few weeks ago does not, just to mention a few. Possibly your friend would be happier with a puppy because a Peacock would be able to jump on any SUV with no difficulty, pinioned or not. I guess its different strokes for different folks, but I wonder if the next question will be can you take the call out of the voice box because we cant sleep at night, but once again "Why would anyone wish to pinion Peafowl"...Anyone else have any input on this subject, would love to hear from you former and present Zoo keepers...

Roman

[Dan Cowell]

[nwgamefowl]

I think if your buddy is so desperate on keeping his peafowl from flying,, that Dans advise on clipping its primarie feathers would be a good idea,the pinioning of an adult peafowl wouldnt be worth the cost of the operation,not to mention that such a beautiful animal shouldnt have to walk around with half its wing cut off.
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[Carl]

Pinioning any galliforme is generally all but a waste of time, even ignoring any cost. The huge bulk of them have wings where the primaries (the feathers on the part of the wing removed by pinioning) are only a small proportion of the wing area, as compared to waterfowl for instance. This means that pinioned galliformes are still reasonably accomplished fliers. I have no doubt that with a little practice, pinioned peafowl would figure a way to clear 8 feet if they were determined to do it.
For the same reason, clipping peafowl primaries will not restrict their flight much either. There is no reason why you could not clip all the birds' secondaries and primaries ON ONE WING ONLY which would be unsightly but much more effective at restricting their flight.
Wing-clipping species such as cranes, flamingoes, waterfowl etc. is more effective because all these birds either have large primary areas and/or already struggle to get airborne when full-winged anyway. Handicap them further and flight is a thing of the past.